It had been billed as the green budget, the child poverty budget and even the fuel poverty budget. But this was a really a budget for the future as the chancellor used his debut to delay more decisions than he made.

On climate change, housing, small businesses and household waste, Alistair Darling kicked a succession of difficult issues into the long grass of Whitehall's review processes.

A new target of an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050, up from 60%, was followed by an announcement that there would be new carbon budgets alongside the budget - but not until next year.

Last year's energy white paper pushed Labour into raising the supply of renewable energy and Darling said the government would begin consultation on how to meet its share of the EU target - but not until the summer.

The government wanted supermarkets to reduce the use of carrier bags, Darling said, and would face legislation - but not until they had been given a year to see what improvements they could make on a voluntary basis.

Measures to improve mortgage deals had been widely expected. The chancellor said he was keen to look into housing finance. A review of findings on the mortgage market was published yesterday and showed that long-term fixed-rate mortgages can help reduce some of the risks of taking out a mortgage, particularly for first-time buyers and lower income families.

But though Darling told the Commons he wanted "to see more flexible and affordable long-term fixed-rate mortgages for 10, 20 or even 25 years". Darling said: "It will help more people get on - and stay on - the housing ladder." But he would only "seek views" on how that could be delivered and would report back in November.

He also announced that John Hutton, the secretary of state for business and enterprise, would look into proposals to limit the regulation imposed on small businesses by Whitehall departments. Anne Glover, chief executive of Amadeus Capital Partners, would examine what other barriers to starting up could be removed.